The Lady and the Drifter
by Crimson Angel
Summary: A story of how Ruby and a mysterious stranger meet.


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The Lady & the Drifter  
  
By Emily Rene Bryan  
  
Chapter One  
  
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"Never again will I be able to live through losses like these. I need something to hold onto, something I can protect. I know things like people do not last forever, although I wish it were the other way around." Ruby thought to herself.  
  
Ruby climbed up the stairs of the house that she had lived in since she was born. While other people wanted to move she wanted to stay for the house kept her mother's joy alive. She practically lived by herself except for the family dog, an Irish setter called Julius. It had been exactly a year and a half since her father first bought the dog from the bait store. Her father had disappeared mysteriously half a year ago and left no trace that he was still living.  
  
"I wish this house wouldn't spur certain memories." she thought to herself.  
  
She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it hesitantly while trying to remember what it was she was going to do but it never came back to her. She stepped back into her old bedroom. Traces of things from her childhood were still left and the time that she was there she had never bothered to put them away.  
  
White curtains draped over the windows that looked down upon the library. To the left of it was the old hotel and just behind it was where her father used to work on and repair vehicles and space ships. She had also worked there for a while when she was thirteen.  
  
Downstairs she heard a rustling noise. She bit her lip and walked out of the room to the top of the stairs. She shifted her eyes around until she saw Sam come into view.  
  
"Meddling around again, are you?" Ruby crossed her arms and had a grin on her face.  
  
"I wouldn't say so ma'am." Sam tipped his white cowboy hat. "Heh, long time no see milady."  
  
"Lost your place in history have you?" Ruby's grin was left on her face.  
  
"No. I know where I belong. After all these years Vincent doesn't have a clue where he fits in." Sam replied in his usual friendly tone.  
  
"He never did." she said as she leaned against the banister on the top floor. "Where is he?"  
  
It was rare that anyone could ever tell what Vincent was up to.  
  
"Oh you know, around." Sam replied.  
  
Sam removed his hat, ran his hands through his hair then scratched his head and put his cowboy hat back atop his head.  
  
Ruby climbed down the stairs and headed for the front door, she didn't look at Sam. She turned the knob and let a gust of fresh air flow into the old musty house. Vincent stood there with a dozen red roses in his hand and looked at her uneasily. She looked down at them wondering if they were for her. He hastily handed them to her and she smiled.  
  
"Last time you gave me roses was right before you threatened to kill me." Ruby smiled, remembering.  
  
"Only this time there's no need for threats." He said with a straight face.  
  
She stepped closer to him to give him a hug and he didn't have time to move away. He was in a place that he had never dreamed of - embraced in a long hug with Ruby. Sam chuckled quietly and went to go sit on the sofa. He twirled a toothpick around in his mouth.  
  
~*~  
  
"No one is as lucky as you, Vince." Sam said as the two men sat in the living room of the Nighthawk house.  
  
Vincent smiled and simply said nothing.  
  
"That shows you that men think with something other than their hearts." A low voice said from the top of the stairs.  
  
They hadn't ever heard the voice before and they knew it wasn't Ruby's. The man's figure loomed on the staircase and the two looked up at it. He moved closer to the railing and his face was illuminated by the light.  
  
"Haven't met you before stranger." Vincent said cautiously.  
  
"No need to be uneasy." He said. "Unless you automatically assume I'm a serial killer."  
  
He lifted himself over the railing and leaped onto the floor below. The light fully illuminated him this time. He had the same eyes as Atticus and his hair color was not far off from Ruby's although it was black and had a bluish tint. 


End file.
